The present invention relates to absorbent articles such as disposable diapers, and more particularly to absorbent articles having barrier means for the containment of fecal matter. The invention also relates to methods of manufacture of the absorbent articles having barrier means for the containment of fecal matter.
The major function of absorbent articles such as disposable diapers and incontinence briefs or undergarments is to absorb and contain body exudates. Such articles are thus intended to prevent body exudates from soiling, wetting, or otherwise contaminating clothing or other articles, such as bedding, that come into contact with the wearer. The most common mode of failure for such products occurs when body exudates leak out of the gaps between the article and the wearer""s leg or waist. Fecal material that is not absorbed by the absorbent article can work its way past the gaps in the article in the legs or waist of the wearer.
Contemporary disposable diapers have a front waist region, a rear waist region and an intermediate region between the front and rear waist regions; these regions being located within a front waist edge, a rear waist edge, and two longitudinal edges. Contemporary diapers comprise a liquid pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet, and an absorbent core positioned between the topsheet and the backsheet.
Disposable diapers may also be provided with barrier cuffs which inhibit fecal material or gushes of urine or liquids from soiling the wearer""s clothing The barrier cuffs restrain the free flow of this material to hold such material within the diaper. U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,246, issued on May 10th 1988, discloses an absorbent article having barrier cuffs.
Various prior art patent applications have disclosed a cut-out hole in the top sheet to provide a means for fecal material to be held within the disposable diaper, behind the topsheet and out of contact with the wearer""s skin. In some of these patent applications an elastic strip is used to apply tension to a region around the cut-out hole in order to maintain an open aperture. Usually the elastic strips are attached directly to the topsheet, usually to the side of the topsheet which faces away from the body of the wearer. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,877, published on May 5th 1987 discloses a topsheet with an aperture in the central crotch region of the diaper with zones of elastication in the topsheet tending to apply tensioning forces to the topsheet for urging it away from the underlying absorbent core. EP-A-0 357 298, published on 7th Mar. 1990; EP-A-0 486 006, published on 20th May 1992; and GB-A-2 328 158, published on 17th Feb. 1999, also teach various means of applying elastic tensioning forces to the topsheet in order to maintain an open aperture.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable absorbent article, and a method of manufacture of the disposable absorbent article, which better contains fecal material within the article, and which prevents leakage of fecal material out of the article, and/or prevents movement of fecal material from the anal region to the genital region. The absorbent article comprises a barrier cuff adjacent to the longitudinal edges of the disposable absorbent article, each barrier cuff having a proximal edge and a distal edge; and spacing means associated with each barrier cuff distal edge so that the distal edge is spaced away from the top surface of the topsheet.
The object of the present invention is achieved by means of a top sheet comprising at least one cut in the intermediate region, each cut extending from a first cut end to a second cut end between barrier cuffs, wherein the topsheet adjacent to each of the cut ends is attached to the barrier cuff between the proximal edge and the distal edge, so that a part of the intermediate region of the topsheet is lifted out of the plane of the rest of the topsheet by means of the barrier cuffs to form at least one transverse barrier and a pocket between the topsheet and the absorbent core.